{"id":133902,"date":"2021-01-15T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T18:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=133902"},"modified":"2021-03-31T16:37:12","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T02:37:12","slug":"native-hawaiian-groups-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/15\/native-hawaiian-groups-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Native Hawaiian groups meet community need during COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"fresh
A collection of food disrtributed by Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The COVID-19<\/abbr> pandemic has worsened many of the problems faced by Native Hawaiian communities, but in a new paper, public health researchers detail the numerous efforts of Native Hawaiian-led groups that show these communities’ strength and resilience.<\/p>\n

Since the start of the pandemic, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders have faced a higher risk of contracting COVID-19<\/abbr> than other groups in Hawaiʻi.<\/span> They also endured high levels of unemployment and economic insecurity.<\/p>\n

“This paper highlights the power of Native Hawaiian communities during these trying times,” said Jane Chung-Do<\/strong>, senior author and associate professor with University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Mānoa\u2019s Office of Public Health Studies<\/a> within the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health<\/a>. The paper is published in the Journal of Indigenous Social Development<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nonprofit efforts<\/h2>\n
\"food
A Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo food distribution event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The nonprofit group Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo<\/a> (KKNOW<\/abbr>), whose aim is to promote health and support the self-sustainability of the Waimānalo community, has partnered with other nonprofits, businesses and governmental agencies to provide food for Waimānalo families. Since mid-March, the group has distributed 24,000 prepared meals and 3,550 boxes of fresh produce. KKNOW<\/abbr> also delivered seeds and seedlings of traditional Hawaiian crops such as kalo (taro) and ʻuala<\/span> (sweet potato) to families and community members who are vulnerable to food insecurity, economic instability and other social challenges.<\/p>\n

“The goal of KKNOW<\/abbr> is to build community resilience by helping fellow Native Hawaiians grow their own food before further disruptions strike,” said Kirk Dietschman, president of Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo and a co-author of the paper.<\/p>\n

Other nonprofits have also pitched in. The meals were prepared by chefs and students in a culinary training program, coordinated by the nonprofit KUPU Hawaiʻi<\/span>. Meal delivery was led by Aloha Harvest, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the Waimānalo Market Co-Op, which provided the sites for the daily food distribution.<\/p>\n

“These efforts succeeded because these Native Hawaiian-led groups anticipated the needs of the community and leveraged existing resources and relationships to meet those needs,” said Ilima Ho-Lastimosa<\/strong>, the lead author of the paper and a community coordinator at the Waimānalo Learning Center of the ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ<\/abbr> Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>). “It is key that these organizations all have history with the community and have earned the trust of the members.”<\/p>\n

Producing long-lasting results<\/h2>\n

Historically, efforts to address health disparities have used western-centric methods and have often failed to produce long-lasting results among Indigenous peoples, the researchers wrote in their paper. They concluded that place-based, culturally-grounded interventions show promising results with Indigenous peoples and will be needed to restore the health of Native Hawaiians.<\/p>\n

The co-authors on the paper also include LeShay Keliʻiholokai<\/span>, Kaua Kassebeer, Hae Kassebeer, Joseph Awa Kamai, Ikaika Rogerson, Kenneth Ho Jr., Manahā Ho, Kamalei Ho, and Denise Kaʻaʻa,<\/span> of Ke Kula Nui O Waimānalo; Alexxus Ho, of the Hawaiʻi<\/span> Pacific University College of Health and Society, and Theodore Radovich<\/strong> of CTAHR<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

This research is an example of ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015\u201325 Strategic Plan<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public health researchers detail the numerous efforts of Native Hawaiian-led groups that show these communities’ strength and resilience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1411,1417,1465,1363,242,241,449,158,9],"class_list":["post-133902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-covid-19","tag-covid-19-research","tag-manoa-native-hawaiian-place-of-learning","tag-manoa-research","tag-native-hawaiian-health","tag-public-health","tag-public-health-sciences","tag-publication","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133902"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138399,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133902\/revisions\/138399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}